Shorwell, Isle of Wight

Historical Description

Shorwell, a village and a parish in the Isle of Wight, 5 miles from Newport station on the Isle of Wight Central railway. The village stands in a richly-wooded hollow, at the mouth of a transverse valley of the chalk range, and is a pretty place with some fine old residences. It has a post office under Newport; money order and telegraph office, Brighstone. Acreage of the civil parish, 8857; population, 586; of the ecclesiastical, 666. There is a parish council consisting of seven members. The parish contains five tithings, and extends to the coast. The manor was given in the time of Henry III. to Laycock Abbey in Wilts; passed to the Leighs, the Bulls, the Bennets, and the Gordons; and, with the seat of North Court, belongs to the Gordon family. Wolverton and West Court were formerly the seats of separate manors, but are now farmhouses. The living is twofold, a vicarage and a sinecure rectory, in the diocese of Winchester. The vicarage is annexed to the rectory of Mottiston; gross value, £350. The rectory is a separate benefice. The church is a most interesting building of stone, in the Early English and Perpendicular styes, containing many fine monuments and brasses, a wall painting of St Christopher in good preservation, a stone pulpit with hour glass, a chained Cranmer Bible, and many other antiquities. There is a Wesleyan chapel.

Administration

The following is a list of the administrative units in which this place was either wholly or partly included.

Any dates in this table should be used as a guide only.

Civil Registration

For general information about Civil Registration (births, marriages and deaths) see the Civil Registration page.

Directories & Gazetteers

We have transcribed the entry for Shorwell from the following:

• Samuel Lewis' A Topographical Dictionary of England, by Samuel Lewis, seventh edition, published 1858. (Shorwell (St. Peter))

Maps

Online maps of Shorwell are available from a number of sites:

• Bing (Current Ordnance Survey maps).
• Google Streetview.
• National Library of Scotland. (Old maps)
• OpenStreetMap.
• old-maps.co.uk (Old Ordnance Survey maps to buy).
• Streetmap.co.uk (Current Ordnance Survey maps).
• A Vision of Britain through Time. (Old maps)

Visitations Heraldic

The Visitations of Hampshire, 1530, 1575, & 1622-34 is available to view on the Heraldry page.